Finally getting a clearing in our opposite schedules, Tara and I spent the whole day yesterday at Catalina Island for her birthday. I had gotten our tickets a while ago but didn’t plan much to do once we got there, since I had no idea what was there to do. I thought about maybe parasailing but that turned out to be $60 for 8 minutes. No thanks. As it turns out, Catalina Island is way schlockier than I anticipated and feels kind of like Margaritaville with better scenery. The beaches were nothing to get excited about, at least not the ones on Avalon, where we were dropped off. The main street offered few interesting options for food and we must have counted over a hundred Hawaiian shirts/black socks combos. Yet Tara and I found ways to have plenty of fun. We ate lunch at Luau Larry’s, which is apparently home to the famous Wiki-Wacker but we wouldn’t know because I don’t order shitty cocktail drinks. Then we rented bikes and cycled around some of the hills, stopping at Descanso beach for a bit of sunbathing. I tried to go in the water but there was nothing but rocks on the beach and in the ocean so my feet couldn’t take it. We biked some more, stopped for 18 rounds of mini-golf (which I won handily), then finally got some real swimming down on the small, chunk of beach open by the harbor. That was fun until some kid puked in the water and that was it for me.

The boat rides to and from the mainland might actually be the highlight. Even though I’m slightly terrified of open water, there is a majesty to the ocean that can only truly be appreciated when there’s nothing else in sight. The ride back at sunset was particularly serene, especially when, literally, hundreds of dolphins began swimming and jumping next to our boat. I’ve never seen anything like it. We got home and capped the evening by watching Titanic on Netflix. It’s been ten and a half years since I first saw it and probably five since I last saw it, and while it’s flaws are becoming more evident to me as it ages, the overall power and craftsmanship is still overwhelming. And I love me some DiCaprio.